Swift fox survey along Heartland Expressway Corridor.

Details

• Creators:
  Albrecht, Marc
• Corporate Creators:
  Nebraska. Dept. of Roads
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Highway corridors
  • Wildlife
  • Endangered species
  • Surveys
  • Animal behavior
  • Habitat (Ecology)
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Nebraska
• Corporate Publisher:
  Nebraska. Dept. of Roads
• Abstract:
  The swift fox (Vulpes velox) is a small canid classified as endangered within the ; state of Nebraska. Future construction of the Heartland Expressway Corridor (HEC), a ; 300 km road expansion project in the panhandle of the state, may impact the resident ; swift fox population. ; A scent-bait survey of the HEC was carried out in the summer of 2014 and a ; smaller survey was completed in February 2015. Swift foxes were documented in Dawes ; County and northern Kimball County. The areas immediately surrounding these locations ; show significantly higher amounts of grassland and lower amounts of agriculture than ; expected. Swift fox predators were found in larger numbers along HEC sections that have ; already been expanded to 4-lane divided highway than expected. ; Three swift fox were also live trapped and collared with Global Positioning ; System (GPS) tracking collars in the fall and winter of 2014. Location data from one ; swift fox collar was retrieved. The home range for this individual was 25.70 km2 in size ; and made up of 97% grassland and 2% developed land. This male traveled an average of ; 3.03 km a night and 42.6% of the documented movement was from one side of the HEC ; to the other over the course of 113 nights. ; The data from the camera surveys and GPS collar give a basis for tentative ; conclusions about swift fox in Nebraska. Swift fox were not common on the Heartland ; Corridor Expressway. They occurred at the north and south portions of the panhandle. ; Swift fox appear to have about the same home range as reported in studies from ; surrounding states about 4 square miles, and the collared animal did spend more time ; along roads than anywhere else but around its presumed den. Swift fox did occur most ; often in low grasslands in this study, compared to other types of land cover. ; Additional mammal species documented by camera survey included raccoon ; (Procyon lotor), mule and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus and Odocoileus ; virginianus), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), coyote (Canis latrans), feral cat (Felis ; catus) and American badger (Taxidea taxus), and less frequent species. Species presence ; appears to be influenced by vegetation composition and human population density.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/29588/dot_29588_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 13.49 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:1e5a923d66e69fff3c7d168c69d21975899c8a644b2248be9747695dadc83bec